


reflection

by ThirstyForRed



Series: the devil in your eyes [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Drowning, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 18:35:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20605418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirstyForRed/pseuds/ThirstyForRed
Summary: a very short scene from lord and lady howes lifesoft porn and domestic abuse





	reflection

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [wspomnienie](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20604986) by [ThirstyForRed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirstyForRed/pseuds/ThirstyForRed). 

it's so late when rendon descends to the underground baths of the vigil keep. those who are awake, plunged into darkness and silence, could be counted on a single hand - guards on the walls and at the gate, a casket watching over a sick mabari, a maid cleaning the kitchen for the last time... rendon, walking gently and slowly on steps he knows better than anyone, creeping in the dark, and eliane.

his dear wife, eliane. completely naked, with loose hair, pale, drifting on her back like a drowning victim. with her eyes closed, as if after so many hours cold water could give her any rest. relief.

(it will certainly look like one when she will finally die. they will put her on the funeral pyre, in one of those gray dresses with so many fastenings that it is faster to tear it than unbutton)

rendon squats over the edge of the pool, still unnoticed. he had seen eliane so many times on so many different occasions, but now - when she doesn't know she is being watched - it's different. as if it is the only opportunity to see her fully, all her virtues and flaws. observe uneven skin on the thighs and abdomen, angles of bone visible under the skin, clever long-fingered hands and full lips.

"you have blue lips," he says, not too loudly. but that's enough for eliane to open her eyes in surprise and lose her balance in the water, submerging completely. rendon smiles slightly - and stops when she emerges, grabbing the edge at his feet.

her blue eyes are dark. dark hair sticks to her whole face and she looks more like a revengeful witch emerging from the marsh. with a cruel and crooked smile, there is nothing left of the seductress she always plays when guests are in their home.

"do you like it?" she whispers.

rendon catches her under the chin, a bit with lust, a bit with possessiveness, so she wouldn't have a chance to break away. escape into the water, like a nymph. he murmurs affirmatively, not taking eyes off her.

"i have to be dead pale now, without makeup," she says as if they were flaws. but she blinks and flashes her eyelashes with a new glint in the eye. "and if i actually died? would you still fuck me like a necrophile?"

"no," he answers shortly and moves thumb over her almost purple lips. after a moment of reflection, he adds "i just like you without makeup, when you look like you. like a demon."

and she laughs lightly and sweetly, like when she receives compliments from Orlesian and Antivian dignitaries.

"last time, you said that you like me in makeup."

rendon also laughs, equally insincerely and artificially, and puts his hand and fingers from her mouth to the top of the head, stroking her tangled hair.

"i meant smudged kohl. when you look like you were crying." clenches his fingers on her hair and pushing her underwater, says "i like when you're crying because of me."

for a moment eliane does nothing, lets rendon keep her head underwater. however, before the full minute, she tries to grab the edge of the pool and then his arms, tugging and digging her long nails in. with fingers, she tries to reach his face and scratch his eyes.

but it doesn't last long either.

her hands and claws flabby and powerlessly immerse in ice-cold water. if it wasn't for rendon still holding her hair she would drop to the bottom. under the surface of the water her face, closed eyes and gently open mouth through which residual air escapes, looks blissful again, calm. almost beautiful.

rendon really likes to look at her in moments like this.

with a sigh, he reaches under the water and pulls her by the shoulders. eliane, naked and cold to the touch, lies on her side spitting water and cursing him as if there was no tomorrow. his tunic and pants are already wet, but that doesn't matter. he covers her with a dry towel and kisses her, although his dearest spouse tries to bite. it doesn't matter.

not when eliane, still a bit weak, eagerly pulls the damn tunic off him and unties the lacing of his pants. she climbs on his lap and sits astride as if she were really going to die if the rendon didn't fuck her right away.

and it doesn't last long either. not that long anyway. not when both of them are already on edge.

(rendon thinks of it as blasphemy, rarely and only when a prude chantry mother makes him think about his actions. although he knows that eliane uses more poetic words in her diaries. "such trust - bordering on insanity" really...)

when he kisses her, almost sweetly and without teeth, as if they were 18 again, rendon whispers:

"you should be very scared of me."

and eliane, crazy and blue-eyed eliane, smiles under his lips.


End file.
